St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
The St. Francis Xavier Cemetery is located alongside the Catholic Church in Cartier.
St. Francis Xavier church was built in 1893 and was a Jesuit mission of St. Anne’s Parish in Sudbury. The first Mass is reported to have been celebrated on September 26, 1893, with the baptism of Anthony Chrusoskie Jr.
Two years earlier, Joseph Obomsawan and his wife Zoé (nee Miron) Obomsawan welcomed a baby girl on January 14, 1892. Baby Marie Rose “Rosa” was baptized at St. Anne’s the next day.
Sadly, two years later, on January 2, 1894, Rosa passed away. On January 9, 1894, Rosa became the first known soul to be buried in the Catholic cemetery adjacent to St. Francis Xavier.
The second soul to be buried in the cemetery was Marie Canard, who passed away on September 10, 1903, and was buried on September 12, 1903. Marie was born on December 15, 1875, and was the wife of Joseph Canard (1867-1943).
Both Rosa and Marie had passed out of history for the Cartier Cemetery until recently when the Webmaster began a project to identify all the souls buried in the cemetery. Both were not recorded in any maps given to us when we took over the care of the cemetery. Nor were they listed in any records local to the Parish. Neither Marie nor Rosa have a memorial stone. We found their records in the archives of St. Anne’s parish in Sudbury (Death Records and Baptismal Records) and the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
Maria and Rose are two of the 37 souls that we have found a record of burial in the cemetery, but their locations in the cemetery are unknown.
The centrepiece of the cemetery is the statue of our Lord’s passion on the cross with the women of Calvary looking on. The statue is a memorial monument erected by the Bourgeault family to mark the grave of Jean-Claude Bourgeault (1930-1986).
As of this writing, 331 known souls are resting in the cemetery. Of those 331 souls, 85 are not listed on any memorial monument. Of the 85 souls that are not listed on any memorial stone, there are 37 whose location in the cemetery is not known.
Last Updated on: July 28, 2024
